Subhash Ghai goes back in memory lane and shares interesting details about Khal Nayak, which completes 30 years of its release today.
Directed by Subhash Ghai and starring Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, and Madhuri Dixit in the lead roles, Khal Nayak was released on August 6, 1993, and completes its 30 years of release on Sunday. The filmmaker and Jackie shared some behind-the-scenes images from the film on their Instagram, while Dutt also shared a reel in June celebrating the 30 years of the film.
Talking about what made him write the film, the Karz director said, "The whole film was written with the thought that every villain is aware of who a good man is. That’s why, I always call the antagonist, the tragic hero of the film. And because I wanted to bring this theme out well on the screen, casting was the most difficult part."
Subhash Ghai added that major stars such as Anil Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor back then wanted to star in the film and revealed why he chose Dutt to play the antagonist. "It was very challenging for me to find the right fit. Once Sanju asked me why I chose him for the role, and I told him it was because of his eyes. Uski aankhon mein ek bholapan hai, ek bachpana hai (His eyes are childlike and have innocence). But in the very next moment, you see a man who’s full of anger. He plays the son, but at the same time he justifies the character of a villain who kidnaps and murders", he said.
The 78-year-old director further stated how he made sure that Dutt understood the character perfectly as he continued, "I wanted to get it right. I enacted each and every scene for Sanju. I wanted to make that character look very unpredictable. Yeh abhi pyaar karega, ya maar dega, ye pata nahi lagta (Whether he will love or kill at the moment, you never know). And fortunately, he played the character exactly like I told him to."
"There’s a scene when he goes to jail to meet a guy and nicely talks to him. But as Sanju’s character hugs him, he chokes him to death. Not many people on the set were aware that this would happen and that’s why they were surprised. My assistant, in fact, asked to cut the shot because he thought Sanjay has done it by mistake and I told them to let it happen as I had improvised it. We shot it like that and everyone loved it,” he recalled one of the scenes which they improvised.
Another improvisation happened in the iconic song Choli Ke Peeche for which Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun won Best Female Playback Singer and Saroj Khan won Best Choreography at the 1994 Filmfare Awards. Ghai shared that Dutt was supposed to normally watch Madhuri Dixit dance there. "But then, we decided to improvise it and added a patch to Sanjay’s eye to bring that drama to the scene. And I think that worked as it looked really well on the screen", the director concluded.
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 "Subhash Ghai, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, and Madhuri Dixit on Khal Nayak sets/Instagram")
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